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Friday, July 12, 2013

Pacman Jones: 'School is cool, guns are not'

Adam "Pacman" Jones was among a handful of NFL players who spoke to inner city kids at a youth football league event in Palm Springs, Calif. on Friday.

The Cincinnati Bengals defensive back spoke to nearly 200 kids during the outing and delivered several words of advice. However, most people probably wouldn't think of Jones when hearing the term "role model."

Jones has found himself in trouble with the law on multiple occasions in his past and was most recently jailed in June after allegedly assaulting a women outside of a Cincinnati bar.

Nonetheless, the NFL had him speak at the Rookie Symposium recently, and the same goes for the Cathedral City Youth Football League.“The only thing I can talk about are true life experiences,” Jones said. “I’m going to be honest with them and whatever questions they ask me, I’ll answer. Be accountable and responsible for all your actions. School is cool, guns are not. Just keep working hard, enjoy your childhood.”
The veteran says he sees life much differently now than he used to in the past and wants to convey that message to kids.

“I don’t do the things that I used to do,” he said. “I don’t hang with the guys that I used to hang out with. I’m a father, I have a great fiancé, I work hard every day, and I try to lead by example.“In the past, I was a little wild, wanted to be out every night, all night. There are better things in life, you know what I mean? And thank god for my beautiful two little girls. They really changed my outlook on life.”

Jones, who has two daughters ages two and seven, has experienced a much better go of it in Cincinnati than he did in his previous stops in Dallas and Nashville. The 29-year-old played in 16 games for the Bengals last season and amassed 40 tackles and one sack.